Set Alight- a begining of an end?

Set Alight – a beginning of an end? !!

Set Alight((Razeen-Set Aside) owned by Vijay Mallya(represented by Zeyen Mirza, his racing manager) was not thought of much by her breeder- Usha stud farm, and consequently was not an entry for Poonawalla Breeder Multimillion! But many thoroughbreds were underestimated by their connections -Northern Dancer being a classic example who could not fetch even $ 10,000 – his reserve price and thereafter ran under the colours of his owner and his stud fee(no guaranteed foal) was $100,000 at one time! This year’s Kentucky Derby winner- Mine That Bird was also a decent purchase costing about $8,500 to the owner! What does one concludes from these simple facts – that even experts occasionally (I’ll not use the more appropriate word- normally) fail to assess the potential of a thoroughbred and horseracing is full of these kind of folklore . In spite of this universal truth many ‘experts’ everyday try to justify the failures and success of their opinion by twisting the facts and sometimes – the figures too! I’ll talk about them later on. Let me finish the Set Alight story.

after winning several races as a 3yo became on money(4/10) fav for Bangalore summer Derby and vanquished her opponents in record time. She won many races on her home turf winning RR Ruia cup(2000m) again in record time very easy –Niall McCullagh astride.

With 10 consecutive wins and beating all the best of her age in some or the other race she did not try to have a go at Indian Triple Crown astonished me ,nay ,perplexed me to no end! But the connections (owner, racing manager, trainer ,jockey etc.) have no reason or obligation to these ‘stray’ opinions and planned to place her in 1000Guiness then Ruia cup and finally take them all in Indian Derby. A very sound and safe strategy but devoid of any risk, thrill, adventure or threat- until the D day came .

It is touted that swine flu affected the performance of this filly but the flu affected several hundred other horses too including the ultimate conquerer - Antonios and the connections(owner, manager, trainer) were never on any record to explicitly mention at any time before thr race that Set Alight suffered ‘badly’ by that flu. Her 3 runs in Mumbai 1400m(60 kgs- 1m 24.4s), 1600m(57kgs.-1m 35.6s)and 2000m(55.5kgs.- 2m 1.1s -record time ) without doubt proves that she was at her best after the Ruia cup. Then why did she lose the Derby ?

A great rider said she was fighting with her rider for her ‘head’ and it is funny that he as a retained jockey to ride a runner in Derby seemed more interested in others rather than pushing his own filly! Strange are the ideas people have! Another point projected by a real expert was that the winner did better time in last furlong than the loser. Well, Dr. Watson, it is elementary because a runner who is 2 ½ lengths behind the leading runner at 200m has to move faster and better to catch and beat the leader and do better fraction to win the race!
Finally let us take a stock of the situation. Set Alight won 10 races in a row before her first defeat and lost the second leg of Indian triple crown ( Indian Derby) and I lost interest in her future engagements . In fact I had written in March 2009 when she as a 2year 10 month old amateur ,clocked 1m 35.4s for 1600m and could have easily broken the course record set by Mystical for 1600m, that she is the only filly in last several decades who may win the Indian Triple crown. She lost Derby due to inept handling by jockey ,unnecessary overtraining by trainer and ‘very busy’ owner .Vijay Mallya can not emulate MAM, though he expects to close in on his ‘records’.

Set Alight is a very honest filly ridden by many riders and winning with all .Rajendra , Narredu, Hayes, McCullagh have won with her and have never mentioned or complained anything about her or her behaviour that she is hypersensitive ,nervous, impatient could not be settled during race etc. till her Derby defeat .It was told that her mouth was open in the initial stages of Derby run but her mouth was also open during first 400m in Ruia cup(2000m) won by McCullagh in record time – PR value 2.1 and 9m false rails , while no false rails and PR value was 2.1 on Derby day indicating a bit faster track than Ruia cup day and of course the records during Derby were made and broken by the winner as well as by the loser.
After her Derby defeat on 12 April till 16 August she never ran a race for almost 4 months; though she was seen on track several times – once beating her vanquisher in a mock race indicating(was it a mirage?) her superiority over contemporaries. She ran her first race after a gap of 4 months and was convincingly beaten by Icebreaker by 3 ½ lengths though Icebreaker lost to her twice at level weight .
How could it happen? Old timers will say - it has happened in past and will happen in future too .the theme of story remains the same , only actors change. Maybe, they are right. Let us have a look at the story…

Her track works were poor as compared to Icebreaker who was active during this period losing one race and winning one . Even conceptual and some other runners track was better. I don’t buy the lame excuse that she was running first time on Hyderabad track because Icebreaker and some other runners were also running there for the first time. She was clearly, meticulously under prepared and bookmakers were fools to offer only 3/10 on her . they could have made better killing by offering 45/100 or 5/10 like they did for Indian Derby.
What about the actual race? Let me take a little ‘freedom of expression’ ...

The Appeal Board of the Bangalore Turf Club met Monday evening to hear an appeal from jockey C Alford against an order of the stewards of the Mysore Race Club, which had suspended his riding license. This order pertained to Alford's riding on Echoes Of Light, wherein he was found guilty of not permitting his horse to run on its merits. As reported earlier, there were riots at the MRC after this race and police had to be summoned. You may recollect that both jockey Alford and trainer Darius Byramji were suspended by the stewards of the Mysore Race Club. They further recommended that should the two of them apply for fresh licenses on April 1, 2008, the said applications may not be considered till October 31…

Durung the actual race she raced in rear , always a good strategy for a route race from everybody’s point of view , only a length behind Icebreaker till 800m but continued to remain in rear till 400m. while Icebreaker gradually improved along rails to be close 2nd. or 3rd.(-1 ½ lengths) behind the leader our heroine moved out behind a wall of horses at bend and while Icebreaker accelerated and took over lead by more than 2 lengths at 400m she was struggling at that time (-6 lengths behind and 5 horses wide) to extricate herself from the natural mess encountered always by those runners who race in rear and Alford did not mess up this time like he did with Echoes of Light( to lose by nk or short head) .The lead up training helped and Set Alight was convincingly beaten by 3 ½ lengths!
I’m convinced that if she continues this regimen of training and performance , she is bound to become a textbook case , alongwith the associated celebrities which will be quoted for a long time by the racing historians...